Bound to the Past
by LadyOfRohan1
Summary: Nicole must be Bound in order to save the people that she loves...She isn't sure she's ready to give up herself for them...
1. The Cause

Just as a new day dawned bright, clean, and fresh, a scream rang out from the castle of Xanadu. The queen was screaming, begging, and pleading for mercy, while she helplessly watched her husband be brutally slaughtered. The murderer smiled grimly as he went about his gruesome task. When he finished with the king he moved to look at the trembling queen. As he stood over her, covered in blood, his face began to become contorted with all consuming rage. He brutally ripped off the tatters that were her husband's nightclothes, made them into strips and began methodically binding her to her bed. Her arms were turned to a painful angle as she had a blood-soaked cloth stuffed in her mouth. Her murderer then tied her legs open to the ends of the bed, pulling them until one bone began to crack. His expression had gone from the all-consuming rage to that of a professional doing nothing more then a job.  
  
He raised his serrated dagger and plunged it brutally in her leg wanting her to enjoy the most excruciating death imaginable. His dagger danced across her skin, drawing pictures, seeking revenge for her father's crimes. He plunged the dagger again and again turning, ripping, tearing; her muffled screams rang out resonating on the castles thick walls. He began to speak, "Do you want it? Need it? Do you know why you die this day?" As he said this, his knife began to move across her feet, cutting the skin off in strips. His smile grew, "Death is knocking on your door my queen. Did you realize that this was to be the last day you lived?" he began then to slowly write on her leg, using some sort of magic to heal the cuts until they were but scars. He moved to her other leg and stared for a while, "Did you know that one of the most sensitive places on the human body is behind the knee?" With those words he shattered her kneecap with the butt of his knife, enjoying her pain. She attempted to thrash against her taut bindings. Her bones began to audibly creak.  
  
"The more you fidget, the more you hurt." He punctured the back of her knee sawing at the bone. "There is no one to save you this time. Do you remember the last time you saw one of my kin?"  
  
The queen being in more pain then any one human could manage, silently, lay taut stretched out because of her bindings. He began tightening the bindings on her legs until, with and almighty crack, he broke a bone. The queen couldn't manage more then a slight whimper while still tasting her late husbands blood. The brutal killer, still standing over her, let out a grim laugh. "I have heard it said, that the queen could be with child, now we can't let that happen, can we?" With a slight sneer on his mouth the murderer began making small cuts, little nips, on the queen's stomach. He began to dig the knife deeper inside of her prodding, feeling the queens blood spilling over his hands.  
  
As her life's blood continued leaking out of her, the killer shared with her two last bits of information, "Your father did this, he killed you, and I am but the messenger." The murderer, smiling insanely told the queen, "Your daughter is next, and with her goes your country, there will be war for the throne." The knife in his hand began to shine as he held it up to the light, beginning to pant with emotion, he whispered the last words she would ever hear. "I think that you want death, it would make you happy." He slowly, shallowly slit her throat. She began suffocating. Her last sight was that of her killer disappearing.  
  
Seconds later the queen's daughter, heir to the throne of Xanadu, skipped lightly into her parents rooms. She stopped, horrified, at seeing her mother suspended by red fabric above her bed. Slowly the child of ten realized that the red was not the color of the fabric, it was blood. The child let out a blood-curdling scream and fainted away. Little did this child know that this was the day that settled her fate, the day, part of a long chain of events, the catalyst to making her a legend. 


	2. The Effect

Chapter one-The Calling  
  
Roberto Dimitri, one of the most powerful men in the world, walked purposefully into the chambers of the Lady Nicole. His black wizard robes billowed around his lanky, lean frame. He had a distinct air of power, knowledge, and awareness around him. He was a leader, and he knew it. His black hair, shoulder length, was cut clean, and straight. His azure eyes seemingly intent, "Nicole!"  
  
"What do you want Roberto? I am busy! Have you come to bother me about becoming Bound again?" She paused at this point to make a thumping noise followed by a loud grunt, "My old friend, I don't want to hear of it anymore." She yelled at him through the door, panting slightly. Roberto began striding toward the sound of her voice. Most people didn't talk to Roberto in this manner, as it was common knowledge that he was the head of the Bound.  
  
"Nicole! We must talk, it is of the utmost urgency." He told her, his tone making it sound far from important. As he opened the door to her room he found her harshly punishing a punching bag for some unfathomable crime. Her face was twisted with un-released pain. Her hair was hanging in her face like a black curtain over her pale skin. "Nicole, this is no way for the heir to the throne to act."  
  
She laughed harshly, "The throne?" Another laugh ensued. "The throne?" Her voice rose on the last note. "I want no throne. Lord Kain does a well enough job for my tastes. He can have this country and all the people in it." She paused again, beating the punching bag with, if possible, increased fervor, "I must be ready! The day of recompense draws ever nearer. The day that I find that moral bankrupt that murdered my parents." She smiled grimly, "And return the favor. The day has been nine years in the making, and I plan to be prepared." She jumped and delivered an intense round kick to the bag. The bag began a slow swing towards the left wall, Nicole in a seeming fit of rage spun and side kicked the bag, making it almost pull out of its anchoring.  
  
Roberto's features hardened, "I was hoping that you would comply, I do not wish to hurt you."  
  
"Hurt me? Who ever" she stuttered a bit on the word ever "ever, cared about hurting me?" She sounded on the verge of tears. Instead he lip curled in a nasty smile while she redoubled her efforts to break the punching bag.  
  
He looked at her sadly "My dear, you have a vast potential inside of you. This hitting you are doing now is but a sample of the power that you will wield when you become Bound. You are Bound, you are ready, and it is time." She looked at him again and walked toward him, her eyes challenging him boldly; her black orbs capturing his slightly lighter ones.  
  
"My dear Roberto," Her voice held much intensity, "You do not see it properly, I want not to be Bound, I want only to live." She looked into his clean-cut, face. "You, my dear, have it all wrong." She put her hand on his well-muscled arm, "I am not Bound, I am but a fighter, a warrior. The Bound's philosophical drivel does not concern me."  
  
His features again hardened, jaw clenched, muscles taut, "You will be Bound, you are Bound, and you will forever be Bound. Look into my eyes child." When she didn't comply immediately, "I said look into my eyes." She looked up, purely surprised at his tone. Her eyes met his and time stopped for Lady Nicole, her breath became faster and her heart rate skyrocketed. As her breath again began to slow she felt an excruciating pain in her stomach. Her world exploded, revolving around physical pain and mental anguish. Then time began anew. Lady Nicole now had knowledge of hundreds of lives. Now she was one Bound to the Wheel of Time, destined to die, to be born again as a mere baby, to be called, and die again, forever. She now had the knowledge of hundreds of her past lives, as well as her knowledge of the fighting arts. She was one of many, and many of one.  
  
The Wheel has neither beginnings nor endings, it is a circle forever turning, repeating, and subtly changing. Every single life is a thread in the Wheel, some; though weave the wheel, while others let the wheel weave them. The Bound are some of those that weave the wheel a group of people all destined to be great. The first thus most powerful of the Bound are Desrami Rasum and her one true love, Roberto Dimitri. They have the most immense power of all people on earth. The second Bound that The Powers That Be created were Nicole and Christopher, friends that have known each other since one of the first beginnings in the Wheel. Nicole is one dedicated more so to the healing arts then to the fighting art, which is in no way implying that she cannot fight, Christopher just does it better.  
  
Near the forging of The Wheel of Time, The Powers That Be felt that the world, which was ravaged by war, needed a champion. Thus they gave Roberto his powers. Thinking ahead, The Powers also created a counter-part for him, as it can be lonely being different than everyone else. They took his love and gave her powers, to balance his. The Powers That Be decided that the First wave wasn't enough to save the entire universe, thus creating the Second wave. The Powers also decided that lovers didn't fulfill their entire potential. Then they created Christopher and Nicole, a different version of the first wave, not as powerful, and yet stronger than the wave below them. This version was just friends, loyal, but only friends.  
  
Seeing as the First and Second waves have this massive amount of power, they could take on anything and destroy it. The Powers That Be brought about a change in their powers; they could no longer kill the greatest evil on the earth. If a Bound kills this evil, the world is faced with a greater evil, until one day the wheel is broken. Thus the world will come to an end.  
  
The Bound's greatest power is that of linking. All three waves can link themselves together and perform a great work, otherwise impossible to achieve. If all of the living Bound link themselves together they can perform the greatest feat of all, reanimation. When all of the Bound come together, they must be in the same room; they can reanimate a dead comrade, or leader. Reanimation is hard enough to accomplish that the Bound only changes the cosmic balance in the most dire of needs.  
  
The Powers thought that this second version, while effective could be improved upon; hence the third wave was created, Hawkeye the male, and Kahleea the female. This one different, one male, who can do nothing but heal, and one female, that could only destroy. The Powers thought that they would balance each other out, on a cosmic level. They were wrong.  
  
All Bound can feel the their counter-person in a way that directs them towards them. All female Bound can find Desrami at will, while the males can find Roberto. The Bound get 'called' between the ages of fifteen and sixteen. Not necessarily at the same time, or when they are the same age. Some people realize that they are destined to be Bound, these people fight the Binding with all their might. If this is so, and one of the Bound knows that a person is to become Bound, they can force a calling, after the age of nineteen. Nicole was such a person; she set herself up for the pain of being forced to be Bound, causing a very unpleasant experience.  
  
She fainted away; the only thing supporting her was Roberto. Slowly she began to come to, blinking rapidly, "Roberto! I need.I..." She trailed off overwhelmed by the thoughts and memories floating through her. She had just been forcefully Bound. As her breath began to steady she looked into Roberto's eyes "Who else has been called?"  
  
"You are but the last, forgive me for hurting you." He was referring to her recent Binding. The doors opened again, "Nic-" The servant saw Roberto there, and immediately bowed, "Good sir, I was looking for the Lady Nicole."  
  
"I gathered as much boy." Roberto was impatient, wanting to finish talking with Nicole.  
  
"Xavier, what is it?" Nicole asked him calmly, her eyes never leaving his. Xavier immediately got the silent message and bowed again.  
  
"The lord Kain, has requested your presence at the state dinner tonight."  
  
"Thank you very much, you may go." She waved an imperious hand at him. The conversation picked up again, like nothing had happened, "It is alright, and do you know where Christopher is? I can feel him, to the far north." She began to become puzzled. All Bound can feel the other person from the wave that they were created in. This sense gives the Bound a direction in which to go to find their partners. She took a calming breath and attempted too remember the past more clearly, when you first get called, your past lives are hazy. She gasped remembering the previous life, the betrayal.  
  
"Yes, he is in hiding." Roberto told her looking saddened. He smiled a bit, "What was that with the serving boy? Some eye contact, silent messages." He raised an eyebrow, "Anyone I should be telling Christopher to be checking into?"  
  
She looked him straight in the eye, "Lord Kain wants me at dinner, after all I am the figurehead of Xanadu." She quickly changed the subject, "Are you coming with me to find Christopher?"  
  
"Of course." His answer hadn't ever even been in question.  
  
"I'll need my weapons." She then shook her head, "but then I have my weapons." Walking over to a rack holding various tools of death and destruction, she arched an eyebrow at Roberto, "are you going planning on standing there staring or turning like a gentlemen?"  
  
A small smile played on his lips, "Yes sir." He turned around. Twenty minutes later she was ready to go, fully armed and prepared.  
  
Nicole had doffed long black pants and a tight black shirt. Over this she wore a long black leather jerkin. Had the coat been opened you could have seen her assortment of weapons. These ranged from, daggers, to at least four different types of swords, bows, arrows, a staff even. She was deadly effective with them all. She was carrying a virtual armory. She smiled, "I have missed this." 


	3. The Resulting Fury

Chapter two- The Bad Part of Town  
  
Nicole and Roberto strode side-by-side, walking quickly. Both of their outfits consisted of no color other than black. Roberto had on a long flowing cape, trailing behind him in the dull wind. Nicole's jacket hung heavily, as she had it filled with weapons. The contrast between her pale complexion with dark hair and black out-fit was frightening. The inhabitants of the city shied away from the two darkly clad figures.  
  
Their respective expressions didn't help either, Nicole had a look of utter disgust, self-disgust and disgust for what she was seeing. It was her country, and she had neglected it, due to that fact, it had been left to the reign of corrupt Lord Kain. "He is killing my people Roberto." Her anger was beginning to slowly surface.  
  
Roberto's frown was replaced with a small smile, "I think that you could be correct." His voice was carefully neutral. He looked at her, gauging her reaction, "You didn't care only hours ago." They had to skirt a large pile of trash; Nicole could smell decaying flesh in the pile.  
  
Her nostrils flared in disgust, "How did I let it get this far?" She was leaving the stage of disgust and plowing head on into anger. Nicole's jaw muscle began to twitch, her breathing becoming labored; she was trying to control her anger...and failing. "You very well know that hours ago I thought a lot of things incorrectly." She glared at him. "The support of the people is more important than the support of almost anything else. How does he manage to hold onto this land? Kain surely hasn't the support of the people." She looked at the homeless undecided on whether or not to beg at Roberto and her.  
  
It was Nicole's fault, she hadn't taken her responsibility, the one that said she was queen, she had shirked that duty, and her people had paid in blood. She had locked herself away, pining away for revenge, letting those that were depending on her live in utter deprivation. She hadn't wanted the responsibility that being queen entailed, it would have meant ruling, paying attention to affairs of state. The need for revenge had been to deeply ingrained in her for her to care about her country.  
  
Roberto looked saddened, "Angry?" He hadn't taken this route accidentally. He knew that it would anger her to see her people living in squalor.  
  
"A tad. At myself, I didn't know that-" She cut off sadly. Nicole's voice was laden with self-loathing countered with sadness. As they were walking it had begun to lightly rain. It didn't help the conditions. She ran a hand through her hair, and shook her head, her dark hair falling into her eyes. She looked up at Roberto "You brought me here." Her dark eyes were accusing. She looked at the filth she was walking through, "It was no coincidence."  
  
Roberto didn't even have the grace to look embarrassed, "Yes, I did." He was deadly serious now. The small teenager that had been following them finally spoke up.  
  
"Aren't you the Princess miss?" She was staring with wide, blue eyes at Roberto, yet addressing Nicole. Nicole flinched at the title. Nicole had to look down, as she was much taller than their short tagalong.  
  
The cryptic answer came, "I was, I am not anymore." The teenager frowned, not able to understand. The girl flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder, in an attempt to understand, she looked toward Nicole for more information. Nicole looked distastefully down at her. Roberto hid a smile; Nicole hated people younger than herself.  
  
He got down on a knee, presumably, in Nicole's view, to ruin his black pants and his silver lined cape, which was now settled firmly in the mud. "She isn't the princess anymore, she is the Queen." Roberto looked up toward Nicole for confirmation. Nicole distastefully nodded.  
  
"Come off it Roberto, if I want to find Christopher we have to leave before the newest apocalypse." She was being sarcastic again, "Now. You know that your pants are dirty right?"  
  
He looked up humorously, "Who put you in charge?" He ignored the comment on the state of his pants.  
  
"Desrami." She said with a smirk, "She told me I was to beat you if you talked back."  
  
"You can try." His voice wasn't playful anymore. He stood, attempting to intimidate her with his greater height.  
  
"Like a male dog, did I threaten your territory?" She rolled her eyes and began to walk away. Roberto smiled one last time at the child, her blues eyes stared back hauntingly. All he could see of her face was her beautiful baby blues eyes as the rest of her face was covered with a ragged cloth. Roberto's gaze was captured; he found that he couldn't look away. Then the blonde headed teenager seemingly disappeared. He quickly looked around but couldn't spot her. He shook his head attempting to clear the fog that had descended on his mind. He was now on guard, not many people could cause that reaction in his mind.  
  
He stood still momentarily, realizing for the first time that his pants were now a lost cause. He shook his head ruefully; Desrami was going to kill him. He spotted Nicole striding purposely toward the edge of the town. He began to push through the crowd to catch up. He kept getting sidetracked attempting to find a blonde head in the sea of brown and black. People of Xanaduan blood tended to have dark hair, as well as dark eyes. This should have set the girl miles from the people in the crowd but, try as he might, Roberto couldn't find her. 


End file.
